Bishops extend collection for retired religious

Published: 2006-06-16

LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- The U.S. Catholic bishops overwhelmingly agreed June 15 to extend the yearly national collection for retired religious until 2017. By a vote of 143-10 on the first day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in Los Angeles, the bishops approved a 10-year extension of the collection, which otherwise would have expired in 2007. By USCCB rule, only bishops who head dioceses can vote on matters dealing with collections or other decisions involving financial commitments by dioceses. The Religious Retirement Fund collection, first taken up in 1988, "is the most successful national collection in the history of the church," said Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa, who introduced the extension proposal as chairman of the USCCB Committee on Consecrated Life. He said that collection has consistently received the best response of all the U.S. church's national collections -- taking in a total of just under $500 million in 18 years, for an average of nearly $27.8 million a year.

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